


Love or Friendship

by cricket_aria



Category: Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Political Marriages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 16:04:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17046668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cricket_aria/pseuds/cricket_aria
Summary: Noa had come into the Matchmaker's parlor fully planning on becoming Lisle's partner. She hadn't expected to be offered the possibility of love instead, and struggles to decide which path she should take.





	Love or Friendship

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AwayLaughing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwayLaughing/gifts).



> I took bits and bobs and choice of romance from your own Hise pirate to flesh this girl out, and hope that you don't mind that it's only that much rather than trying for deep characterization!

Maybe smiling sweetly and asking, “Tell me, if I chose to poison you this time would it give me more points in your eyes?” when her second meeting with the matchmaker began hadn’t been the _best_ opening move she could have chosen, but that was the only slip she’d allowed herself. Noa had walked into the room with one goal and one goal only; that she would be polite, and witty, and clever, and political, and _ram it up that woman’s behind_ what a perfectly well-rounded and acceptable woman she was. In a charmingly demure manner, of course.

Which made it fairly disappointing when after all the work she’d put into at least pretending to fix all of her supposed flaws the woman was almost as curt about accepting the improvement as she had been about cutting her down three weeks before. But at least having passed that second test soothed the unease she might otherwise have felt now that she was sitting before the woman once more waiting for her to do her actual job.

And there was a great deal of potential unease to be had, considering just how high above herself she knew the match she’d walked through the door intending to make would be seen in the eyes of the world. If she hadn’t forced the woman to acknowledge her worth though the force of her effort she knew full-well that the woman would have most likely thrown the potential match straight out without even considering giving it her approval.

Even with it, when she told Noa that Prince Lisle had asked after her The Matchmaker sounded as if she found the very words distasteful on her tongue.

Noa opened her mouth without hesitation to accept him as a potential match, only to freeze without a sound coming out when she went onto say that Lord Clarmont had also spoken of her, distantly grateful that her skin would mask the heat rising in her cheeks.

“I don’t give higher consideration to the delegate with the best carp impression, girl,” The Matchmaker said after a long moment, taking a sip of her tea. “Either would be a feather in your cap, I’m sure, although if His Highness is set on a political match instead of attempting for romance I’d have recommended he try to convince the Skalt princess to do that same. They’d have a thing or two in common in their marriage, at least.”

“If you think that anyone could convince Ana to do anything other than whatever she likes, I’d like a front seat to watch the attempt,” Noa finally pulled herself together enough to say. “And what makes you say this would be a political match? Anyone who’s seen us would know how well I get along with the Wellin royal family, there’s no reason for anyone to think there would be nothing between us but political game.”

“I won’t ask you to tell me just what attributes you may be lacking that make me so sure, but if you try to pretend that you don’t know they exist I’ll veto this union outright on the off chance that you aren’t acting. Think whatever you like of me, but I won’t send anyone off with a spouse who’s hiding more than is right,” she said dryly, then paused for a moment, giving Noa a chance to refute her once again. When she kept her mouth shut, saying nothing that would admit to secrets that weren’t hers to share nor denying whatever the woman had worked out on her own, The Matchmaker nodded in satisfaction. “Besides that, your reaction at the young Lord Clarmont’s name makes it obvious enough where your heart lies. What will it be, girl: politics or romance?”

Politics or romance would have been an easy choice. There’d never been a Hise pirate born who’d feed their own heart to the schemes of nations, not unless Farine itself was at stake. But _friendship_ or romance? That was an entirely different story. But she’d walked into the meeting she’d never imagined it would be an issue, when she’d turned down Clarmont’s invitation to spend a day with him out of concern for how earnest nervousness she’d sensed in Lisle’s own she thought she’d lost her chance with the pretty man who’d first drawn her to want to steal him away. She’d braced herself to injure Ana’s heart when her name was announced with Lisle’s, but not Clarmont’s.

And certainly not her own.

But how could she break her word to Lisle? He’d be sweet and understanding about it, certainly. He’d make it clear that he’d never expect her to prioritize helping him over her own chance at love, and say nothing about how he’d become a delegate without ever even having a hope at that chance. And he’d let her steal away whatever happiness he’d allowed himself to hope for, in a marriage to a woman he could at least call a friend and who would gladly embrace Penelope as a sister. One who would understand, even be able to help him slip away to, whatever dalliances he was luckily enough to find with the openness only someone from Hise could offer.

Only someone from Hise…

Her eyes widened as scattered conversations she’d had over the last several weeks suddenly slammed into her mind. “Ask Cordelia about him,” she blurted out, then quickly waved her hands through the air as if to wipe away the words, all trace of the proper grace she’d tried to keep up in front of the woman fading away at the force of her idea. “No, wait, I’ll talk to them both, it wouldn’t be right to ask her when he doesn’t know anything about it. But I have a plan that I think would make everyone happy.”

“Are you attempting to steal my job now?” The Matchmaker ask, though the pinched twist of her mouth could almost be called a smile.

“Yes, absolutely,” Noa said breezily, the closest to herself that she’d ever felt in the woman’s presence, “My secret goal in life is to make noble children cry, and you seem to have a good excuse for it. But make no decisions about them for now, Lady Matchmaker, and I promise that I’ll get to have my romance.

* * *

She’d left the room fully intending to grab them both and talk them into submission, but quickly realized how stupid that would be. Even after having put some work into befriending Cordelia she knew that she wouldn’t respond well if she burst into her room suddenly; unless things were done properly she’d be tense and on-guard from the outset. So Noa wrote up a pretty invitation to tea for her, apologizing profusely for the short notice, and asked Jasper to make sure her own servants received it. Then she went and found Lisle.

He was as understanding as she’d expected when she told him about Clarmont, even immediately saying, “Him, of course,” when she revealed that she hadn’t given the Matchmaker her choice yet, but blinked at her in confusion when she told him her plan.

“Princess Cordelia? I know that Penny seems to like her, but I’ve hardly had a chance to speak to her.”

“Oh, of course not,” Noa said with a sigh, “I should have expected that she wouldn’t talk freely to a man without at least three chaperone’s making sure everything remained proper. But listen to me, Lisle, if there’s anyone here who doesn’t care about the possibility of a love match in the slightest, it’s her. That girl _needs_ to escape Hise, she needs to be somewhere that would gladly accept a woman with perfect manners and beautiful embroidery skills. It doesn’t take too much work to get her to drop those walls, and she’s a kind girl beneath them. She only built them because Hise doesn’t value that type of kindness.” She scrubbed her hand across her head and added, “Besides that, I’m fairly sure that if you were going to bring home a Hisean queen the politics of one who’s also an Arland princess would be more favorable for you. With me it would be a bit of a disaster.”

“It might not be a match that offers much gain, but I’d hardly phrase it that way,” he said.

“Oh no, you would be stealing the daughter of a stolen Wellin nobleman back to Wellin, your highness. Do you know what that means? Twenty-one years from now our own son goes off to the summit, only to come face to face with a dashingly charming pirate who’s been specifically trained to sweep her, and only her, off her feet and back to the islands. Forty-two years on one of Penelope’s grandchild comes to try to win ours back only to discover, oh no, our son had twins each as handsome as the last and fully willing to share, and off they all go to Hise as well because Wellin would never be understanding. My country would be incredibly amused to start a game of keep-away with our bloodline, but they would play it to win.”

He smiled down at her, clearly amused himself at the idea, “I’m afraid you don’t know Wellin as well as you assume, if you think my countrymen would get caught up in such a game as well.”

“Oh, not for the fun of it, I’m sure, but when they notice the campaign against them and get their feathers ruffled over it? That would be the bigger concern.”

“I do see your point,” he admitted. “Still, the problem remains that I don’t _know_ Cordelia. I refuse to marry a woman who doesn’t understand what that means, but I don’t know her well enough to trust her with that truth.”

“You, your Highness, are making this overly dramatic. Nothing’s set in stone this early in the game, all she’d need to know is that you’re only looking for a political match, and that I’ve let you know that’s she’s looking for the same. If in three more weeks you haven’t found another woman you’ve felt you can entrust your secrets to, well,” she reached out and pressed a warm hand to his cheek, giving him a fond look with her heart only twinging a little as she said, “Let nobody say this pirate goes back on her word. We can still make our own kind of happiness, you and I.”

He clasped his hand over hers briefly, giving his head a small shake as he pulled it away. “Before we break Lord Clarmont’s heart, let’s try to put your plan into action.”

As if summoned a knock suddenly sounded on her chamber door, and she realized with a start how much time had passed. She exchanged on last glance with Lisle before crossing to open it, the servants having been sent away so they could speak in private. Hoping, as she did, that maybe Cordelia would be willing to save them both.

Hoping that maybe they could save her in return.


End file.
